Fantome
by Master Boss
Summary: Fantome only had a few people with whom he could put his absolute faith and trust...his mom and the best friend. Nobody else mattered, nobody but them. But what's going to happen when Fantome follows his French uncles dating advice and potentially ruins the friendship he worked so hard to create over the years? He wishes he could fix everything.
1. Prologue

_**The ice will melt and the bare trees will burst into leaf  
Every ending is just a new beginning  
We need the night so the day can bring us light  
For things to start anew  
Leave what's passed in the past  
For things to once again start anew**_

_**(Et Suus Saaks Alguse -Birgit Õigemeel)**_

* * *

**Prologue: New Beginning**

_My Dear Matthew,_

_Please, don't forget about me while you're away in Vancouver! I won't forget you. Never. I'll be sure to send you photos of Fantome as he grows up and I'm a little upset you aren't going to be around. He'll miss you. I'll miss you, too._

_Anyway, come visit us during the holidays so we aren't lonely. Fantome needs his Papa to be around to play with. I attached some pictures of him at the zoo; we rode on an elephant together because he was too scared to go on his own._

_I'll see you soon when we come over and visit for your birthday, okay?_

_Love you,_

_Toris_

.

.

.

Matthew looked at the pictures attached to the letter in his hands, turning them over again and again. He had had to move back to Canada for work, leaving behind his little family –just Toris and their son Fantome. Toris seemed to be handling the move harder than expected, Matthew wished he could take Toris and Fantome with him but he knew that Toris wanted to stay near his family.

The picture had Matthew's favorite Lithuanians riding on an elephant, as Toris had said they had done. Toris' dark hair was flying in the wind and a smile graced his lips as he held the little boy in his arms, the boy who looked so similar to Matthew. Matthew let a small smile creep onto his lips as he stared at the two enjoying themselves, silently wishing he could be with them. At first glance, Fantome looked exactly like Matthew; but the more he looked, the more he saw Toris in the boy: the way Fantome's dark hair fell down into his eyes and he would swat at it while Toris chuckled, tucking it behind his ears for him, the way his green eyes twinkled with curiosity, the way his smile lit up the room…

Matthew felt a tear on his cheek as he looked at the two, he would need to visit more often when he got more vacation time.

.

.

.

_Toris,_

_I'd never forget my two favorite Lithuanians. I'm coming to visit for the weekend because I miss you; Alfred also wanted to come for dinner because he's broke and needs food. Is that okay with you? Fantome can play catch with is Uncle Alfred while we make dinner together. ;)_

_I'd send you pictures of me, but they're not nearly as cute as the pictures you send me._

_There's a stuffed animal for Fantome in the bag, it's a moose since Canada likes moose. :P_

_I miss seeing your face…but I'll see you soon._

_Matthew Williams_

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.

.

Toris smiled. Matthew's letter had warmed his heart. He handed Fantome his toy and watched as the boy proceeded to bite the head of the moose. Toris chuckled, taking the toy out of his son's mouth.

"You can't eat the moose, sweetheart. Why don't we name him before we go to bed?" Fantome looked up at him; his green eyes sparkled as he thought.

"Can I name him 'briedis'?" Toris smiled, smoothing down Fantome's hair,

"Of course we can, mylimasis. You can name your moose anything you want." Fantome yawned, smiling shyly up at Toris as the man scooped the boy up and placed him on his little bed, kissing his forehead he spoke softly, "now, it's time for bed. We can play again tomorrow and we'll write Papa a letter together."

Toris flipped the lights off in his son's room. He watched the color drain from the walls. What had once been green was enveloped in darkness with small lights emanating from the night light Fantome had insisted on having. After seeing that his son had fallen asleep, Toris stepped back out into the living room, staring at the handwritten note that Matthew had sent him. He smiled sadly.

Matthew was too far away from him and Fantome.

Toris was going to fix that. He began making plans to move up with Matthew in Canada. He had heard it was a very nice place, so he was confident that Fantome would make lots of friends and live a good life there while still having the occasional visit from Uncle Alfred (although Toris was a little worried that Alfred would be a bad influence on his little angel) who enjoyed seeing the boy grow up.

When Toris began plotting something, there was no stopping him.

* * *

Hi,

I'm Master Boss. How are you?

Did you enjoy the chapter? I did this instead of all the homework I'm behind on because I went to Moab, Utah with my Biology class. If any of you were there, we were really loud and obnoxious...and I laughed pretty loudly when I heard there was a plant called Mormon Tea because I thought it was ironic. Yeah. We're cray-zay.

So, just as a warning, don't expect this story to be updated that often. It won't. I have a very hectic, busy week every week and it is so intense that the intensity hurts me. I'll update when I actually have the time to update. :P

Briedis = Moose/elk in Lithuanian

Mylimasis = beloved, lover, sweetie, love, man, darling in Lithuanian

**Inaccuracies in translations? TELL ME! PLEASE, TELL ME! This is important! It's f***ing bold, that means it's super importante!**

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

Lots of love,

~Master Boss~


	2. Letter to a Brother 1

_**If love was a mountain**_  
_**I'd climb up to the highest of them all**_  
_**I'd swim across the ocean if you'd call**_  
_**I'm lost in your smile**_  
_**Free falling for miles**_

_**(Hold Me -Farid Mammadov)**_

* * *

**Letters to a Brother: Love Kills**

Francis,

Did I want him? In all honesty, I'd have to reply with "no"...but then I saw him for the first time and my heart warmed. Fantome became my world the moment he was born. Toris smiled widely, holding the boy up for me to see and nuzzling his face in the little tufts of brown hair on his head. He'd murmur in Lithuanian about how perfect he was as he handed him to me. I loved seeing Toris' green eyes light up the way they did.

I feel like I should have told you about this a long time ago since it's been three years since our little ball of sunshine was born, but I didn't have the courage to face you and Arthur and Alfred...I was scared you'd be disappointed in me for some reason.

Toris is absolutely stunning, with those bright, curious, warm green eyes and with his luscious brunette hair that I love burying my face into. I'll attach a picture of him with this letter. It always smells like citrus. I love the way his thin, pale hand fits inside mine perfectly and the way he smiles widely and giggles at the thought of Lithuania or the Baltic Sea (he wants to take Fantome and I to Vilnius to meet his family soon).

Fantome looks so much like Toris and I haven't seen him in almost a year because I've had to move back to Canada for work, as well, aside from the pictures Toris includes in every letter. Toris sends a letter (because he's not a fan of email) every couple of weeks and stuffs the envelopes with as many adorable pictures of him and Fantome as he can. Last week, the two went to the petting zoo and Fantome fed all the animals and rode on a horse with Toris, it was really cute and Toris stuffed what felt like a million photos into the envelope of them at the zoo.

The letters also keep me updated on just about everything imaginable…

_"Fantome said his first word today, it was French: Père. Uncle Francis taught it to him on his last visit."  
__"Arthur and Alfred visited and they took Fantome to the beach."  
__"I taught Fantome a Lithuanian word: Tėvas. He said he liked it and was going to start calling you his __Tėvas_."  
_"We're visiting for Christmas, širdelė."  
__"Aš tave myliu"  
__"I miss you."_

Francis, I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Toris offered to pack everything he had and move with me to Canada, but I told him no. I can't really tell you a definitive reason why I said no, but it's partially because I'm scared to be the father of the perfect little boy we brought into the world...so I left Fantome in Toris' care and left. We still talk, every night he calls and he sends a letter every couple weeks, and...I always felt that Toris would take better care of our boy than I ever would, no matter how much I loved the two of them, and so far it's proving to be true. I don't know anymore, Francis. I need your help.

What the hell am I supposed to do with this mess I've gotten myself into...? I've been spending sleepless nights thinking about what it would be like if I had my Lithuanian family here with me. Would that be good? I'm going to continue thinking about it, but at the moment, I'm leaning towards having Toris and Fantome move up with me. I have to get over my fear and embrace fatherhood with everything I have to offer for him, because he's my son and I owe it to him to be the best Daddy I can be. We could all live together as a family in Vancouver. That would be nice. Fantome always liked the ocean, so he would be near enough to the ocean where we could drive there on the weekends and play on the beach.

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I miss his bright, happy smiles and Toris' chuckles. I miss Toris and Fantome and their Lithuanian words. Whenever Toris would call me his "mylimasis", my heart would melt a little and I'd fall in love with him impossibly more than I did before then.

I think I'll break the news to them when they come visit me next weekend, it's Fantome's third birthday. Tell me what you think, too. I want to know if you think it's a good idea, since "frère aîné sait toujours mieux"...

Your dear and loving brother,

Matthew Williams

* * *

Good day, Friends!

This is Canada's first letter in the story Fantome. This is sort of like a Prologue because it sets the stage for the rest of the story. I have this feeling that Canada's going to live with them, but be sort of one of those parents who works all the time and doesn't see his family too often...just a hunch. What do yout think? :P I'm also excited for this story and hope you are, too and I hope you enjoyed reading this.

Also, I know that this is total crack pairing-ness. Yes. I know. I base all of the stories I've been writing on RPs my friends and I have and Fantome is the product of one of them. I'm Lithuania and my friend is Canada and we thought it would be cute to have them get together...since they're both shy and adorable. That's the entire reasoning behind this pairing, pretty much.

**Translations: (Don't kill me, but I'm a Spanish student so I don't speak French and probably will butcher the language. If anyone can help me not murder the language, that would be excellent. I'd love you forever. Honestly, I would.)**

**Père: father in French**

**Tėvas: father in Lithuanian**

**širdelė: sweetheart in Lithuanian**

**Aš tave myliu: I love you in Lithuanian**

**Mylimasis: beloved in Lithuanian**

**Frère aîné sait toujours mieux: Elder brother always knows best in French**

**Inaccuracies in translations? TELL ME! PLEASE, TELL ME! This is important! It's f***ing bold, that means it's super importante!**

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

GAH! I'M SORRY I WAS SO LATE IN UPDATING THIS! I spent my entire weekend working on projects and essay outlines. It was not a joy. I worked on my Interactive Oral, which is a book project (I chose to do mine on the book Silence, the topic being the Social Structure in Feudal Japan), in IB English, had to do my Great Depression Essay Outlines (which I missed half the notes for because I went to Moab) for IB History of the Americas, and then finished it off with working on my Way of Knowing presentation for Theory of Knowledge. Ah, it was very busy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll try to update a bit sooner next time.

Lots of Love!

~Master Boss~


	3. Chapter 1

_**Let us go  
without fear;  
let us proclaim that love's won over all,  
that now it's me and you.**_

_**You're that light**_  
_**that crosses the universe**_  
_**you**_  
_**urge me to fly**_  
_**with you till the end**_

_**(Contigo Hasta El Final -El Sueño de Morfeo [ESDM])**_

* * *

**Chapter One: With You Until the End**

Matthew stared out the window, waiting expectantly for his husband and son to appear in the driveway, it was getting late and the latter had promised to be there early to let Fantome and his father play, it seems the snow had slowed them down. The snow drifted down slowly as he watched and waited, and then he saw them. He watched as the little grey car drove up into his driveway and smiled shyly as he saw the two emerge from the inside.

He watched as Toris' hand was tugged by Fantome and he was pulled towards the door. He saw the boy stare into the window at him and flash a small smile, the same smile Toris would always give him. He smiled back, opening the door and opening his arms for a hug. Fantome ran towards him, arms open and smiling widely.

"How's the birthday boy?" Matthew beamed, as he ran his hands through Fantome's light brown hair. Fantome's bright green eyes sparkled when he saw Matthew, he turned around to look at Toris and saw him chuckling lightly.

"_Tėvas_, I missed you!" Fantome cried, burying his face in Matthew's chest and nuzzling him shyly, "did you miss me, too?" he boy looked up expectantly, and smiled when he saw Matthew nod slowly,

"Of course I did. I always miss my little man." Toris smiled at the two and walked back out to grab their bags from the car. He walked back with the light purple bags with the lighter green circle patterns, pulling them into the house and setting them onto the floor.

"Fantome, did you have any more bags in the car, sweetheart?" Tori s asked sweetly, Fantome turned around and shook his head shyly,

"No, _Mere_, I have everything." Toris cracked a smile and walked over to ruffle the boy's hair, kissing Matthew's cheek, making the other blush lightly. Toris' smile grew wider as he saw the other's blush.

.

.

.

Having arrived late into the night, Toris took Fantome in his arms and carried him into the bathroom,

"Better go to bed early tonight, _širdelė_. Tomorrow's a big day." Toris laughed at the boy's reluctance to sleep. It had reminded him of his brothers' antics as children. He ruffled Fantome's hair, "you're a lot like Uncle Eduard, you know that?" Toris leaned down and kissed Fantome on the forehead as he tucked him into bed, moving to shut the door slowly, only to have Matthew push it open and walk inside with a small gift in his hands,

"Thought I'd give you an early present," he stated, kissing the boy on the forehead and handing him the neatly wrapped box, "it's from your uncles and I." Fantome's green eyes lit up and his smile grew wider on his face as he ripped the wrapping paper and revealed a box, as he opened the box he ran out of bed to embrace his father,

"It's a yeti," Matthew chuckled. "Uncle Alfred thought you'd like it and it seems he was right for once."

Toris, internally smiling at Fantome's love for the yeti, pulled Matthew out of the room and stared at him sternly,

"You know he won't be sleeping now, Matthew." The latter laughed, kissing the former softly,

"He's tired; you can see it in his eyes. He'll be out like a light soon. Anyway, I have some things I need to discuss with you, Mr. Toris Laurenitis." Toris raised an eyebrow,

"What is it you must discuss, Mr. Matthew Williams?" Matthew took Toris' hands in his, smiling shyly up at the other man,

"I want you to move in with me again, come live with me. I want to be involved in yours and Fantome's lives again. Like I always tell him, I miss him. Whenever you leave, I get depressed. No amount of Skype will fix that." Toris pursed his lips, lost in thought. Several moments of silence went by, which Toris spent thinking and Matthew spent nervously playing with Toris' hands,

"Are you sure…?" came the nervous response as Toris furrowed his eyebrows, "can you really handle having Fantome and I living here with you?" Matthew nodded quickly, excitedly,

"I've been saving up! Just give it a chance, we'll be a happy family again," he cried. Toris kissed him sweetly,

"I'll think about it, _gerai_? Fantome and I will talk about it, but I know he's going to say how much he wants to live here with you." Matthew's violet eyes sparkled; Toris loved it when his eyes did that. He missed seeing them sparkle.

.

.

.

Matthew had forgotten how incredible Toris was until he watched the man strip in front of him in their room…he felt a bit uncomfortable in the nether regions but ignored it, instead opting to stare the other's bare chest. He began changing himself and watched Toris stare at him; laughing, he turned to the latter and wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into a tight embrace,

"You know who I missed most?" Matthew asked, a smirk finding its way to his lips, "My favorite Lithuanian." Toris blushed, planting a soft kiss on Matthew's nose, giggling.

"Someone's trying to get some ass, isn't he?" Matthew shrugged, slipping out of his pants,

"I can't say I missed you?"

.

.

.

Toris woke up sore, stark naked, and excited, poking Matthew awake as he stirred next to him. He smiled as the other remained snuggled into the blankets, arms wrapped around him. He gently unwrapped Matthew's arms and kissed his cheek as he got up to make breakfast. Today would be a fun day, he could tell, regardless of the soreness in his backside. Pulling Matthew out of bed and getting dressed, the two walked quietly into Fantome's room and sat on the side of the bed, nudging the boy awake. He looked up groggily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes,

"_Mère_? _Tėvas_? It's early. Can I sleep more?" Toris laughed, ruffling the boy's hair,

"I thought you wanted _Tėvas _and I to wake you up early so we could go play?" At this, the little boy's green eyes widened and a smile slowly made its way to his lips,

"Are we going to play all day, _Mère_? Do Uncle Alfred and Francis and Arthur get to come, too?" Before Toris had time to reply, there were four quick rasps on the door.

.

.

.

Fantome snuggled up to his yeti as he yawned sleepily. Toris looked back at him, as Matthew pulled out of his driveway, and thought of how quickly the boy had grown. It felt like it was yesterday that Toris had taken him home for the first time, with the nursery only half finished because he had come early. He remembered asking Eduard and Raivis to watch him while he and Matthew finished furnishing the room for their little one…and now he was three. Sure, that was still young, but before Toris would know he'd be ten and then twenty and then he wouldn't need Toris anymore. That scared him. He turned his green eyes back to the front and smiled sadly to himself.

Toris' mind wandered, but eventually it made its way back to the topic that had been haunting him for the past night…and he'd come to the conclusion that he needed to move back in with Matthew so he could have his family back –and, most importantly, so Fantome could have his family. He turned to Matthew and his smile grew wider as he quietly told him his decision.

* * *

Hello,

Sorry for lack of updates, I've had a lot on my plate for the past few weeks. I'm preparing for the last essay test of the year in History of the Americas, it's on our Stalin/Russian Revolution Unit. We also have the Landerpalooza on Monday because Lander was a butt so Mr. O inspired a test after him. :P  
I've also had my World Literature Essay begin in English class and I'm working to finish my outline tonight. It shouldn't be too difficult since I chose the easiest of the three books to write my World Lit on, Crime and Punishment. No matter how much I've complained about it, I actually started to like it after a while.  
My Exteded Essay work is also going to pick up considerably and along with that, I have my Internal Assessment for History starting up! As soon as I get my question approved, I'll have to begin working on it. So, yeah. I apologize in advance for my lack of updates.

There are scary cloud noises coming from outside my open window and I'm scared, I should probably close the window but chances are I won't until it gets dark since it's hot in my room... This might end up being a stupid thing to do.

**Translation Fiesta (Any of you who happen to speak French and/or Lithuanian and notice that my translations are COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WRONG please, tell me. I don't want to look like a dumb butt.)**

**Gerai = Okay in Lithuanian**

**Mère = Mother in French**

**Inaccuracies in translations? TELL ME! PLEASE, TELL ME! This is important! It's f***ing bold, that means it's super importante!**

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. (:

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

Lots of love,

~Master Boss~


	4. Chapter 2

_**It's my life and I know it's not forever  
It's my life and I'll share it all with you  
It's my life, we were meant to be together  
I'll give my life to you**_

_**(It's My Life –Cezar)**_

* * *

**Chapter Two: Standing Still**

Fantome looked around, his three year old mind failing to comprehend the amazement of what surrounded him. For once, everything seemed to be going well. He got to move in with Daddy finally, he missed seeing the man smile at him and he missed seeing Mama so happy. He looked at his new room, examining every detail that had been put into the design. He enjoyed the color of the walls, which had been settled on being green because him and his mother enjoyed green with the light purple curtains because his father liked the contrasting colors. Fantome's parents had agreed to put in the night light that changed colors, even if they knew that Fantome would probably never sleep because he would be so focused on the changing colors. The young boy looked at the four green walls, which he would one day fill with pictures both on paper and on the wall.

.

.

.

Fantome opened his eyes and blinked as the sun streamed into his room, it had been a few years since he and his mother had moved in with his father, he opened the curtains to his room and he found a boy, about his age, sitting on his swing set, hanging from the large maple tree, outside his bedroom window. His wild blonde hair blew in the gentle breeze and his navy blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight as he stuck his tongue in and out of his mouth, between the gap of his two missing front teeth. Fantome got up and pouted as he opened his window to yell at the boy, but the boy beat him to it,

"Hej~! My name's Feil! I've never seen you around here," Fantome continued to pout, staring right into the boy's eyes,

"That's my swing," he huffed. Feil stuck his tongue out and laughed, jumping off the swing and running over to Fantome's window,

"Can we share it? I'll let you use the sandbox at my house! My papa got it for me; he filled it with sand from when we went to the beach in Denmark. He filled a plastic bag with it and took it home with us; the airport people didn't like it. My papa's from Denmark," Feil smiled widely, there were a few teeth missing in his smile and he spoke with a foreign accent that Fantome didn't recognize, which was a surprise to him because he had always been surrounded by different accents and had thought he'd heard them all. Fantome shuffled his feet awkwardly, staring at Feil,

"My dad is from Canada, but Mom is from Lithuania." The other boy cocked his head to the side,

"Where's Lithu…-Litha…-Lithuania?" he struggled, Fantome smiled and shrugged,

"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask Mom later. Where's Denmark?" The other boy feigned shock and laughed,

"I don't know, but it's the best place ever! And you never told me your name!" Feil smiled, looking at Fantome expectantly. Fantome's eyes widened and he replied quietly,

"I'm Fantome." Feil's eyes lit up as he smiled and held his hand out,

"I like that name! Let's be friends!" Fantome returned the smile shyly, giving the other boy a handshake through the window.

Fantome scrambled to change out of his pajamas and get ready the way Toris liked, before running out to the backyard to find the boy had gone back to the swing in his favorite maple tree. He kicked his legs impatiently,

"Push me, ja?"

.

.

.

Fantome looked up at Matthew and Toris as he nibbled on his burger,

"Where's Denmark?" he asked suddenly, looking up at them curiously with his big, green eyes; Toris chuckled,

"Why does my little man want to know about Denmark all of a sudden?" Fantome continued nibbling on his burger, smiling shyly up at his parents,

"The neighbor boy says his dad is from Denmark." Toris raised his eyebrows, turning to Matthew and looking into his eyes, as if expressing his surprise with his gaze; Toris then turned his gaze back to the boy.

"How old is he?"

"He's six like me and super nice and he let me play in his sandbox and it was really fun! I want to play with him for the rest of the summer before school starts, Mere!" Toris kissed his cheek, running his fingers through the boy's hair,

"That's good, sweetie; you should have him come over one day, kay?"

.

.

.

Fantome was excited, as normal, to find his Danish-Norwegian friend sitting on the swing in his yard, ready to play. They had agreed to play in Feil's home for the day. The pair ran as fast as their little legs could carry them down the sidewalk to the next house over; the large, tan home with the red roof, with wooden railing around the porch and a dark wooden door. Fantome looked at the house in awe, he had never seen his friend's house up close before and he was excited to see what was inside,

"My aunty and uncle live with us, but they're looking for a new house right now, and so does my søster. Well, she's actually my cousin, but Papa tells me to call her my søster." Fantome nodded, watching nervously as the boy opened the door and marched in, walking past a girl with long, blonde hair and bright blue-green eyes and towards a tall man throwing darts at a board on the wall. The man, much like the little boy in front of Fantome, had wild, untamable blonde hair but his eyes were a much lighter shade of blue than the boy's. Feil ran up to him and wrapped his arms around the mans' legs and a large Great Dane bounded towards the pair of Danes,

"Papa, I brought my friend, Fantome over to play today!" The man ruffled the boy's hair and smiled widely as he patted the dog's head, looking over at Fantome waiting by the couch, beckoning him closer,

"It's nice to meet you, Little Man. Fejling Cabinet's told me about you," Fantome's eyes widened and he looked up, smiling shyly as the man continued, "and you guys are going to play with your søster as well, ja?" Feil pouted suddenly,

"Do we have to?" The elder man looked down at him and patted his head,

"Ja."

.

.

.

.

.

.

The two boys had grown inseparable as the summer continued, but the impending school year grew ever closer and the two knew their summer antics would soon end. Fantome was pleasantly surprised, however, to find himself in a class with the Danish boy he had spent his entire summer playing with.

* * *

Hi,

Please don't kill me. It has been much too long since I last updated, but guess what? School's out! **AND I'M NOW OFFICIALLY A SENIOR**! XD Tomorrow and Friday I'm taking my finals to boost my grades a bit and since they're good experience. I'm kind of excited for History, it's such an easy final. I'm making Pokemon Cards of Communists for it. ^^

Over the summer, I will have an update schedule for myself to go by and I will try my best to follow it, but I'm a REALLY bad updater and I always loose schedules, like my planners which I lose every year during Christmas Break. I'm going to try for every other Friday. Weekly updates are too difficult for me...because I have summer homework. ._.  
Also, I will be gone from 15 June-22 June because I am going on a college trip to Washington/Oregon with my friend and it will be splendid. We're going to get some of our summer homework done over that time as well. It should be a great time. (: But, once I come back, I will begin working on the next chapter.

Yes, this is important now:  
To Persona,  
I'm honestly not sure if gerai is okay as in "sure, what the hell" or okay as in "I didn't just skin my face, it's fine!" You may be correct and if I am wrong, I apologize now. I'm just a stupid American who knows nothing about this sort of thing! :p

**Inaccuracies in translations? TELL ME! PLEASE, TELL ME! This is important! It's f***ing bold, that means it's super importante!**

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. (:

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

Alright, I'm going to make a CD for my Art class because my teacher is in desperate need of them. It'll be fantastic. _Besos_.

Lots of love,

~Master Boss~


	5. Chapter 3

_**You and I  
Close together  
A new dimension  
Still far from being complete  
You and I  
Close together  
A new dimension  
But if we dare, we will succeed**_

_**(Il Nous Faut –Elisa Todavi & Tom Dice)**_

* * *

**Chapter Three: What We Need**

Toris looked at the screen of his laptop one last time, staring at all the options he had to choose from, which weren't many. Maybe he'd be like his younger brother, Eduard, and be a teacher. He had a degree in teaching, but he had it to please his parents. He barely had any experience, aside from the year he had student taught in Vilnius before he had moved to America and met Matthew. He sighed, shutting the laptop and getting up to wake his son. As he got up, he felt two hands wind around his sides,

"You're stressed," Matthew's soft voice murmured in Toris' ear; Toris sighed again, before turning around to look Matthew in his bright, violet eyes and stating plainly,

"You know why." Matthew furrowed his eyebrows and frowned slightly,

"I know that you don't need to stress out about money because we have enough." Toris narrowed his eyes,

"We do not and I know damn well that _you_ know that, Matthew!" Matthew sucked in his breath and blinked,

"…and how do you suppose we solve this problem, Toris?"

"I'm applying for a teaching job. Maybe I'll teach foreign language, I have background in Russian." The pair heard a door open and soft footsteps walk towards them as they turned their heads to see the small lad standing behind them,

"Mere, Tevas, what's the matter?" Toris' eyes widened as he picked the boy up off the ground,

"Nothing's the matter, why would you think something was wrong?" Fantome looked into Toris' eyes shyly,

"Because Mere looks really sad, don't you think so Tevas?" Fantome turned his gaze to Matthew. Matthew nodded, smiling shyly at Toris,

"Where are you planning to apply for that teaching job?" Matthew asked softly, kissing Toris' cheek.

.

.

.

Toris smoothed his hair down, which didn't help at all, and straightened his shirt; looking down at himself he thought he looked like a disheveled mess. Matthew had told him he had looked fine, but Toris knew he was lying to make him feel better, he knew that he looked awful. He had gotten barely a wink of sleep the prior night and his hair refused to work with him this morning and it remained halfway sticking up to the sides of his head. He sighed, pushing the door open gently and stepping inside the halls of the high school in front of him, he somehow had managed to obtain an interview and he felt the butterflies in his stomach beginning to act up again.

The warm, hazel colored walls were lightly illuminated by the large windows that were here and there in the hallway. There was a large trophy case showing the school's old and prestigious history and Toris smiled slightly as he watched the students rushing from class to class, up and down the many sets of stairs, stepping around him as he sauntered through the halls –having come early to explore the school. The school had, so far, been incredibly fun to explore. He had found that there were two floors and a couple of "half floors" which were classrooms that had been a part of the old school that they had expanded to match the expanding city*. He noticed a group of girls staring at him as he walked by, possibly noting his old, pathetic suit that he had gotten from his father when he was young, and living in the Soviet Union with his siblings before it had disbanded. Toris couldn't help but feel self-conscious as he felt the stares, but he knew that it didn't necessarily matter what they had thought, but what his future employer thought of him. Maybe he could get away with only having a shining personality while looking like he came out of a Hoover Ville**.

Toris slowly made his way to the main office, near the front door that almost nobody used; instead everyone favored entering through the Senior Parking Lot and into the Common's Area because that was where all the school's parking had been located. Toris gingerly opened the door to the office, getting directions from one of the office ladies on where he might find his interviewer; he nodded his thanks and said quietly,

"Spasibo," Toris walked quietly into one of the open offices and found himself staring into the bright green eyes of, who he hoped, would be the head of the Foreign Language Department. The man sat, lounging in a large chair, with dark brown curls framing his face and nice, sun kissed skin that Toris was, frankly, quite jealous of. Staring at the man, he felt like he had lost his voice,

"P-Privet,"

"Hola!" The man cheerily said, gesturing for Toris to sit down, which the other did cautiously, "What language do you specialize in?" Toris noted that the man had a very obviously Spanish accent.

"R-Russian," Toris said shakily, he had personally always hated Russian after the Russification*** that had happened in his country, but he had to get over that hatred if he wanted a job,

"Bueno! Our Russian teacher had to resign so it's good that you're here, Mister…?" He carried off as he realized he had yet to introduce himself and learn Toris' name,

"Laurenitis, Toris Laurenitis," Toris stated plainly,

"Bien! Me llamo Antonio Fernandez Carriedo! I teach Spanish, if you didn't already know," Antonio said happily, "Now, tell me about yourself, Toris!" Toris gulped, sifting through his mind details that were and weren't acceptable, he started quietly,

"Well, I was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, which at the time was a part of the Soviet Union." Antonio nodded, "and I have two younger brothers who live in America. I have a son, who's going to be in Elementary School and he's learning Lithuanian with me and French with my partner, Matthew." Toris felt like an open book, he told Antonio almost everything about himself, he felt comfortable telling him all these things.

.

.

.

Toris waited days before getting that fateful call from Antonio,

"Hola! Toris? It's me, Antonio. I have news for you," Toris could hear the excitement in his voice; he felt his heart speed up in his chest. He had to have gotten the job, right?

"Welcome to the team, amigo! You're our new Russian teacher!" Toris' eyes widened and he smiled widely for the first time in weeks, he couldn't wait to tell his little family that he had managed to snag a job for himself teaching the language he hated the most in the world. Normally, he'd be devastated, but today he felt a great surge of relief and was incredibly excited to start his new job and finally provide for his little family. Things were going to get a lot better for the three of them, they'd stop borrowing from Arthur and Alfred, and maybe they'd get to pay them back finally.

"That's great, Antonio. Wh-when do I start?" Toris could feel Antonio's utter excitement,

"Tomorrow would be preferable, you can student teach with me for a while! Our Russian teacher's gone, so you'll have to settle with student teaching español with me!" Antonio laughed, "or you can be with Lovi and Feli, they teach Italian together. Unless you wanted something Northern European, since you're Northern European, Berwald teaches Swedish!" Toris chuckled,

"I'll work with you, i-if you don't mind." He stated cautiously, "because I know you best," he added quickly. Antonio quickly told him of the joys of teaching, and got Toris ever more excited, before giving him a very longwinded goodbye and hanging up the phone. As Toris placed the phone back, he heard the door open and saw Matthew walk in, with Fantome on his shoulders,

"Mere looks happier than he did before!" Toris looked at them and smiled,

"Because Mere is happier than he was before."

* * *

_Just a couple casual, and hopefully not confusing/inaccurate, notes hanging around here for funzies~_

_*I pretty much just described my school for you all so if it's confusing I'd be pleased to explain it to you again in a PM or whatever; anyway it's really old and has a lot of history because we built over the old school and kept that building incorporated into the school but still expanded because we needed to. Eventually, we had to build a second high school because there were way too many teenagers in our school and it was ridiculous. We now have a ridiculous Cross Town rivalry, whether it be our football teams, our Speech and Debate teams, or even something as simple as IB vs. AP. But I'll always have my buddies over there who I like to pick on…and laugh at because they're taking AP and complain all the time._

_**If you don't know about Hoover Villes, they're nice little trash homes built during the Great Depression to criticize the Hoover Administration, hence the name. That was one of the only things I retained from that unit because it was rough on me, I was gone for WAY too many notes and didn't understand a thing. Thanks a lot, IB Moab Trip! ._._

_***Rusification = the act of taking away a group's culture and turning them into loyal, Russian commies. Done with love, from Joseph Stalin. It was done most intensely in the Ukraine, because the Russians needed Ukrainian grain to feed ALL THE PEOPLE! (while simultaneously starving out the Ukrainians). They forced the schools to speak solely Russian and tried to stamp out the languages of the different ethnic groups. We just covered this (The Russian Revolution and Stalin) in history and that unit didn't resonate well with me either because Mr. O was gone a lot looking for suitable replacements for Allen-Schmidt, like what Antonio's doing! __I also would love to just add in here, that having a Ukrainian in your history class during the Stalin unit is the best thing ever! Gah, Irina was so pleasant to have, it was hilarious. She was a good sport about it. She could have been so bitter, but she made the entire thing sarcastic and fantastic._

Sup?

So, did you like Toris' PoV? I liked it. (**I want to know what you think, too, so PM me/review what you thought? Por favor? I'm not desperate at all~ :p**) He's an interesting character to write about. It wasn't as fluffy as a chapter through Fantome's PoV, but I think that's good for this story, I want to show that moving back in with Matthew hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies for the two, but I didn't want it to be angsty or anything, since I'm shit at that stuff. ^^' I like that it shows some of the struggles that the two were worried about a few chapters ago in a way...but Antonio saved their asses because he's awesome like that. I love Antonio. Almost as much as I love Denmark. Gah, Denmark is ducking g hilatious (**Any of you fans of jacksfilms?**).

Have any of you ever heard of Maldita Nerea? I personally believe the singer of that group sounds like Antonio and it makes me a happy person. I also believe that Alanas Chošnau sounds like Toris, just a little bit and that makes me smile.

**Translation Fiesta: (and I was going to put in Spanish translations, but hola, bueno, bien, and me llamo are sort of self explanatory in context, sí?)**

**Spasibo (спасибо) = Thank you in Russian**

**Privet (привет) = Hello in Russian**

**Inaccuracies in translations? Please, feel free to tell me, because I don't know anything. I'm a hopeless American living in White Ass Montana using Google Translate and hoping I choose the right words…which I hope my Asian intuition doesn't fail me, it's usually pretty good at picking words.**

Okay! This will be the last update for a week or so, because I will be leaving for Oregon to look at colleges on Saturday. I'm going to a wedding in about 2 hours from where I live in the middle of nowhere (Montana) and then afterwards we're heading straight for Spokane before making our way to Portland the next day. It should be a joy. I'm going with my parents and Raechel the Sass Master, hopefully we don't murder each other ;p I shall miss you all~

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

Lots of love and besos,

~Master Boss~


	6. Chapter 4

_**A hurricane with just a word**_  
_**A waterfall with all of the hurt**_  
_**This love is, this love is a force of nature**_

_**A tidal wave caught in a storm**_  
_**That washed me up onto your shore**_  
_**This love is, this love is a force of nature**_

_**(Force of Nature -Emmelie de Forest)**_

* * *

**Chapter Four: Once In a Lifetime**

It had been years (2 to be exact), as Toris recalled, since he had worked with Antonio. He remembered taking Fantome with him his first day and how he had enjoyed playing with the High Schoolers and Antonio. Toris sighed, looking down at the Russian test in his hand, with little to no marks on it before he looked at the room, taking in all the decorations he had put from his old home in Vilnius.

He had found an old Matryoshka doll in his box of belongings and felt the need to bring it into the classroom, setting it down near his desk along with pictures of his little family, both the one in America and back in the old world. Toris had decided that he had wanted to paint the room a brighter color; he hadn't liked the plain white color at the beginning of the year when he finally had gotten the opportunity to move in and begin teaching. He had decided to not paint the room, but he put posters and flags on every wall, hoping to add a little color to the room. He had recently finished a double sided puzzle of Vilnius at night, all lit up and gorgeous, and decided he'd make a project of finding a way to hang it up, in the end he found a glue-like substance he used to keep the pieces together and was able to hang it from the ceiling above his desk. He had hung up a map of Europe near the door and put a large bookshelf in the back corner of the room and filled it with novels he had owned in Lithuania, surprisingly one was a Lithuanian copy of _Crime and Punishment_, when he was younger and Russian to English dictionaries. Toris had found old flags, smaller than the actual flags they were depicting, and decided to hang them up on the wall –he had found an old Soviet flag but decided to keep that to himself, not wanting to cause an uproar –but he had hung up a Russian flag in the back of the room and near his desk he had put a Lithuanian flag and one from Estonia and Latvia for his brothers. After teaching for a year, Toris had gotten a student who had found the need to gift him with an art piece, which he gladly hung in his room; the piece was a 3D relief, made of cardboard, that was literally attacked with a caulking gun and paint. The relief was inspired by the painting _Little Deer_, by a famous Russian artist. It made him happy to get to finally show his heritage to the students, he hadn't gotten the chance to do that in Antonio's room, but he had seen a lot of what made Antonio who he was. He felt so blessed to have found this job, regardless of how much he hated Russian…

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Toris looked around him, taking in the slightly familiar look of the school he had been wandering through not a month ago. He sighed, hoping for the best as he walked down the long hall, void of any students at this early in the morning, taking in the rows of oddly colored lockers. Antonio had told him that his classroom was in what they called "Lower Fall Hall", but Toris thought he was kidding. He hadn't expected the hall to really be a Fall Hall, the lockers adorning oranges, yellows, and brown hues.**

**He gingerly opened the door, smiling shyly at the cheery Spaniard as he munched on a churro. Antonio's room was bright, while he had kept the room its white color he had adorned it with posters and flags from his home country in Europe. Antonio had found a large map of Latin America to place on the wall and another of Spain to put near the front of the room. In the corner was a large bookshelf with Spanish to English dictionaries, which Toris knew he would have to use often when he taught the students their lessons. Toris found himself growing curious about the plastic pig leg that was hanging from the sky, when he asked what it was Antonio laughed and said it was his "jamón." Toris also found himself curious about the large, blue, papier-mâché dolphin that hung on the opposite side of the room from the "jamón," that Antonio had named Alfredo. Antonio had said that the art club had asked if he had wanted the dolphin, and being Antonio, he has said that he couldn't resist the charms of "Alfredo"…Antonio's room was eclectic and exciting, like the man himself, who Toris had grown to like a lot.**

"**Buenos dias! Ready to start, amigo?" Toris nodded,**

"**D-dobroye utro," The Lithuanian looked at the Spanish teacher, eyeing him curiously before stating shyly, "m-my son has morning kindergarten, so he finishes at noon, do you mind if I bring him in for the end of the day? He w-won't be a bother, promise. He can play in the back of the room." Antonio's eyes sparkled, before he nodded vigorously,**

"**SÍ! Tu niño is welcome to come play in my classroom after lunch! We have a long lunch, because we get fifth period prep and lunch after fifth." Antonio winked, "bring tu niño and he can play with us during sixth and seventh period, they're both español uno and I have activities scheduled for the students to do!" Toris liked Antonio, he liked that the Spanish man could be cheery even during the mornings. Toris smiled, nodding slightly as he heard the bell ring and the flood of students begin to rush into the room.**

**He looked around nervously at the class of students in front of him, he had crammed as much Spanish as he could into his mind last night, but still couldn't wrap his mind around everything, he was a little worried he would look like a nervous idiot in front of the students.**

**He was pleasantly surprised to see that they seemed to take a liking to him as the days went on. Overall, his student teaching experience went quite well, many of the students were confused as to why he was teaching Spanish when he specialized in Russian, but after an explanation from their Spanish teacher of why Toris was there, many seemed to nod in understanding and ignore Toris' terrible Spanish.**

**Toris had taken Fantome into the class with him during the end of the day, the boy playing in the back of the room with a set of blocks and coloring worksheets. Antonio seemed to have taken a liking to the lad as well, walking back often to check if he wanted more paper or something else to play with. Fantome looked up in confusion whenever Antonio would talk to him in Spanish, eyes widening at the foreign words. Toris chuckled, as he watched, before averting his eyes back to his notes and the board, attempting to once again teach the students about the conjugation of tener.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Toris smiled, he finally felt like he was of use to Matthew and Fantome, he wasn't the dead weight of the family anymore. He packed up his papers and folders, placing them carefully in his satchel. He didn't care if it looked like a purse; he found it to be a comfortable way to carry all his belongings. The light green bag had a large pocket that would easily fit the accordion folder he used to organize his papers by class period and could easily hold a set of pens, pencils, and erasers that he took back and forth from school and home.

Fantome had recently started second grade, he was excited to see his best friend from down the street in his class and ran to him excitedly. Toris was happy Fantome was happy, he had always been a shy child, but now he had a friend and it felt like everything was going great for his son. His son was growing up and it was bittersweet for him, he wanted his son to grow up and be happy but he wanted him to stay at home and play with him all day long until time ended…Toris shook those thoughts from his head and packed the last of his things, turning off the lights before shutting the door behind him and walking out the door. Conveniently, there was an exit right next to his room, he had to walk out the door, a few steps down the hall and he was outside.

It took Toris around ten minutes to drive home, and when he opened the door he was greeted by Fantome running up and wrapping his arms around his leg, smiling widely up at him. Toris ruffled his hair, "Hey, little man, how was school today?" Fantome sneezed, before responding,

"It was super fun! I got to play outside with Feil and we played on the swings and he fell off, but he's okay now! But," he lowered his voice, hoping Matthew wouldn't hear, "it started raining and I forgot my jacket inside, so I got really cold and wet, but it was still really fun!" Toris furrowed his eyebrows,

"Why didn't you go get your jacket, sweetheart?" Fantome shrugged, wiping his sleeve over his runny nose. Toris sighed, placing his hand on the little boy's forehead, "Sweetie, you have a fever…you're going to get sick if you play out in the rain."

Fantome pouted, he didn't want to be sick! Then, he'd have to stay at home and wouldn't get to see his friend at school or play in the puddles again. That was bad. He hoped he wasn't sick, he hoped his fever would go away so he could play again. Toris waved his hand, kissing the boy's forehead, "I think you'll be fine, you can go outside and play if you want, sweetie." Fantome's eyes widened and he nodded,

"Mère vous remercie!" Fantome cried excitedly, leaving Toris chuckling softly, before running out the door and towards his friend's home, knocking on the door quickly. He smiled when a familiar Danish man opened the door, raising his eyebrows and calling for his son to come, patting the two boy's heads as he shut the door again, going back to lounging on the couch awkwardly. As of late, he had been living in the home alone with his son, as Tino and Berwald had moved out with their little girl a few months ago. They still visited almost every weekend to check up on the two of them, it was as if nothing had changed. Mathias yawned, before falling asleep on the couch.

.

.

.

Fantome hurriedly ran with his friend into his backyard, where he found the other boy's "sibling" (who he learned wasn't really his sibling, but more his cousin who was close enough to be considered a sibling) sitting on the swing. Her long blonde hair was being swirled around in the strong wind; she looked up at the sky filled with grey clouds, pursing her lips suddenly,

"Feil, it's going to rain," she said, her high pitched voice ringing clear despite the loud sounds of the wind, "we should go inside, maybe we can play a board game together or play on the computer." The boy frowned, looking up at the sky. He didn't like the rain, whenever it rained his Papa came out and pulled him back inside, telling him he'd get sick and Mama would be upset if he ever heard that his little prince was sick. But Feil knew his Mama didn't care, she had moved back to Norway to live with her brother and his family; she didn't want to be with Feil and his Papa, she didn't love them. Rain made him feel…bitter. Bitter that he didn't get to see his mama, but some other kids did. The blonde boy sighed, nodding slowly,

"Fantome, can we go to your house? Papa always gets sad when it rains because he said that Mama left on a stormy day like this one, telling him she didn't love him and never would. I don't want to see my papa sad again." The smaller boy nodded, taking his friend and sibling's wrists in his own and pulling them towards his home a few houses down as the rain started up, at first falling in small droplets that soon grew and had drenched the children on the short walk. He opened the door slowly and crept inside, Toris' eyes widened at the sight of the wet children and immediately began to fret over them. He especially paid attention to the one that looked on the verge of tears,

"Feil, sweetheart, what's the matter? Should I go get your father?" Toris felt his eyes soften as he continued to watch the boy, as he shook his head slowly and snuggled into the blanket Toris had given him.

"I don't want to see Papa until the rain is gone." Fantome knew his friend's family was a broken family, but he had always thought that they were still a happy one. The boy and his father had always been smiling, but it seemed they were hiding away their feelings underneath a mask of smiles. Fantome sighed, snuggling close to his friend underneath the blanket; he wanted to comfort the other boy but didn't know how. Soon after, the girl snuggled with the boys under the blanket, flashing a small, reassuring smile to the others,

"It'll be fine. Brother, you and Uncle Mathias should come to my house tonight! You can come too, Fantome! My parents want to meet you; you can sleep over with us!"

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.

.

Fantome cuddled up against the other two children, Feil had protested sleeping alone in his own sleeping bag and instead insisted that the three unzip their sleeping bags and share the space. He had stated that they didn't need a blanket, they'd all be warm enough if they were together, and he had been correct…except they had to get a little more close to each other than Fantome had liked. They had lined up, Fantome in the middle with the Scandinavians on either side of him. Feil had cuddled up close to the other boy and he had done the same to the little girl on his left. Tino had thought it was adorable and insisted on taking pictures of the sleeping children before him and Berwald went back to their room.

.

.

.

_And I think that, that was around the time when I really started to realize that Feil was something special to me, he held a lot more value to me as I snuggled up close to him during the night. He held me when I cried, I held him when he cried, we did everything together. We laughed, cried, picked each other up off the ground, and wiped the dirt off of each other when we fell. As the years dragged on, and the two of us grew even closer to each other, I started to realize that I think I love him. But he didn't seem to understand how I felt. Everything was a little off, we were only friends. I don't know why I love him; I'm just too stupid to move on, because I know he doesn't feel the same way about me as I do about him. I can't stop myself. God…damn it._

* * *

Hei,

I went on a college trip two weeks ago and it was spectacular, I'm still sifting through my thoughts on them but I've come to have at least 3 that I'm going to apply to. I'm pleased. If any of you live in Washington or Oregon, I could visit you because all the colleges I was thinking of applying to are in Oregon and Washington! :p I want to get out of Montana, it's boring. But I am going to visit a Montana college this Friday because my parents want me to...meh.

**_Also, I don't think I'll be able to update once a week, because I have a shit ton of summer homework! D: I have 5 assignments to do and it's not fun. I have to edit my World Literature Essay, research for my History Internal Assessment, write up a draft of my Extended Essay, work on my Spanish, and then read the Great Gatsby and work on the journal entries. It's going to be busier than I thought it would be. I'll try to update regularly however, because I don't want to come off as too lazy. I'm just a little overwhelmed with the load right now. I hope you can understand, friends!_**

Anyway, as a compensation for not updating in a few weeks because of life, I tried to make this one a little longer for you all...it's still not incredibly long but still. I'll try to write longer chapters, but update less often. If that works for you all.

**Inaccuracies in translations? Please, feel free to tell me, because I don't know anything. I'm a hopeless American living in White Ass Montana using Google Translate and hoping I choose the right words…which I hope my Asian intuition doesn't fail me, it's usually pretty good at picking words.**

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

Lots of love and besos,

~Master Boss~


	7. Chapter 5

_**Because you live and breathe  
**__**Because you make me believe in myself  
**__**When nobody else can help**__**  
**_

_**(Because You Live –Jesse McCartney)**_

* * *

**Chapter Five: My Heart is Refusing Me**

_Love. I didn't really figure it out until I was a teenager, that the butterflies I was feeling weren't just because I had a weak stomach, no, it was because I genuinely loved the person in front of me. The one I called my best friend. The one who would hold me and grin at me, telling me that everything would be chill, even if he was the one that got hurt. He made me feel good. Everything felt right when I was with him because he made everyone around him happy. Sometimes, I wish I could blend into the earth and never see him, because I know he doesn't see me in the same way I see him. Right? I'm sure he doesn't._

_We're going to the movies today and I wish he knew how much it tortures me to know that we always have to share the same drink, the same soda, the same box of candy, half the time the same seat since we always get there late. He just always has to put two straws in his large drink and brush his hands against mine when he reaches for popcorn and manage to squish himself in the same seat as me, but of course he doesn't care about it. We're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less. We've known each other since we were six; I've dated his cousin and loved every moment of it…until I realized that she wasn't the same as him…he's just some kind of perfect and well, God damn it, I'm confused…_

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Fantome put down his pen, shutting the black notebook with the white writing on the front his mother had gotten him on his last birthday and sighed, running a hand through his messy brown hair –careful not to brush his hand against the stray curl of hair that hung, in the same fashion as his father's, lest he want to have to run to the bathroom and fix a little problem he would soon have. He pulled on a pair of dark washed, boot cut, jeans and a dark grey sweater as he yawned and stretched himself out. From downstairs he could smell the familiar scents of maple syrup and pancakes; they'd always been his father's favorites. Fantome looked at himself in the mirror his mother had put in his room, staring at himself up and down. He brushed his hair carefully and smoothed out his shirt, sighing as he looked at himself one last time. He never liked the way he looked, something was always off. He pulled his hair back, as his mother often did, and after deeming himself presentable, made his way downstairs. His mother was sitting on the counter, watching his father as he flipped pancakes, kicking his legs back and forth impatiently and conversing with the other casually. Fantome leaned against the doorway and watched the two, not wishing to interrupt them and ruin the moment; he loved it when his parents bonded and wished he could have a relationship with someone like the one they had.

After eating what felt like a million pancakes, as his mother had continued to load his plate telling him he needed to eat, he pushed his chair away from the table before Toris had the chance to put more on his plate. Fantome put his plate in the sink and smiled at his parents,

"I'll see you later today; Feil said he'd go with me to the carnival." Fantome turned around, waved to his parents and pulled on his baby seal leather boots, the ones his little Scandinavian friend said were unethical. The boots he loved with all his heart, the ones his Uncle Francis had gotten for him, they were comfortable and stylish and went with every outfit he owned. Before he left the house, he checked his phone one last time, the time was ten in the morning and there was a message, it told him that his friend was already waiting for him.

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.

Fantome looked around the carnival and, unable to find his friend and not looking where he was going, unexpectedly bump into someone. He fell down on his behind with a thud, blushing lightly as he looked up to see who he had bumped into, only to find a man, who looked a few years his elder, with a bandage across the bridge of his nose and messy brown hair, green eyes twinkling in the sunlight. He flashed a bright smile down at Fantome, looking into his eyes. Fantome couldn't help but notice that the man had two stray pieces of hair that stuck up from the rest of his hair and thought they were adorable. The other had on a green and yellow shirt which reminded Fantome of the jerseys Australia had worn at the last World Cup, and a pair of khaki shorts. Fantome started to feel hot, whether it was from his sweater and baby seal leather boots or the man's gaze, he didn't know. The Canadian tried his best to avert his eyes away from the other man, hoping that it would help his face turn less…red.

"Mate, you okay?" Fantome could feel his cheeks burn red as he heard the other talk, loving the sound of the other's Australian accent,

"O-oui, I'm okay. S-sorry for bumping into y-you." The other laughed, holding his sun kissed hand out for Fantome to pull himself out with,

"No problem, mate. It was nothing. I wasn't looking. As repayment, I'll take you on a few rides. How about that?" Fantome looked at the man, eyes wide,

"But we don't even know each other!" The other simply laughed again, holding his hand out once more,

"Well, I'm Jack. Jack Kirkland. Pleased to make your acquaintance, bro." Fantome took a hold of the man's hand, shaking it lightly and nodding,

"I'm Fantome. Fantome Laurenaitis-Williams. I-it's nice to meet you." Fantome played with the hem of his sweater, avoiding eye contact so as not to show much of his red face.

"Now can I take you on a ride or two? We know each other now," he said with a laugh, grinning at the younger. Fantome puffed out a cheek, weighing his options before nodding reluctantly. It would be good for him; Jack would help keep his mind off of his long time crush, right? He liked Jack. He was a nice man. They would go out and have fun, he'd shoot Feil a text saying he was busy and hope he wasn't seen, everything would be good. He was sure Feil had only told him that he was coming and instead got into some kind of jam at home, this was what happened almost every time they planned anything together, but this time Fantome had gotten lucky and met another nice man. Today would be grand.

"Oui, we can go on a few rides. What do you want to go on? I don't like the big rides; I like little things like the merry go round and Ferris wheel. Roller coasters scare the living daylights out of me, they're too scary and the last time I went on one someone puked all over me…and I really don't want this sweater to get dirty." Jack laughed once again, he found the little Canadian amusing. He didn't understand why he was wearing at sweater at this time of the year either, he thought it was silly. While Jack wasn't particularly fond of the rides the younger had said he enjoyed, he thought he'd bear with it because he had made him fall. The Australian took the boy to the line of the merry go round; he believed the Ferris wheel was the only acceptable end to a day when it came to rides. He refused to go on it before it had gotten darker, it wasn't as exciting when it was light out…maybe he'd convince the Canadian to go with him on a few roller coasters to kill time. He was sure he could manage that. He was convincing enough. People said he had great charisma.

Jack liked the way the other's dark brown hair was tied back, leaving only his bangs to blow in the light breeze that enveloped both of them. He liked the way his sweater fit his small body, hugging his more feminine frame.

.

.

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_I met a man named Jack today. He was incredible…and quite dashing. We exchanged numbers in hopes of hanging out again later because we both agreed that it'd be a lot of fun to see each other again. He told me he was from Perth, which sounds so intriguing! Australia is so different from Canada! I can't wait to see him again; it'll be so much fun. His cheery outlook is contagious; I can't help but smile when I'm with him because he's always so happy._

_Jack and I went on the Ferris wheel and the merry go round and he convinced me to go with him on a roller coaster, I almost died. I felt like I was going to vomit all over everything, but I didn't. Which was good. Vomiting would be embarrassing, especially with Jack there watching._

_It turned out Feil had gotten into trouble at home, his dad had dragged him back inside saying that because his mother had come to visit he had to stay at home. He sent me what felt like a million texts explaining what had happened and called me to whine. He certainly was an adorable person…but secretly, I think I like Jack's manliness more than Feil's adorableness. Isn't that crazy? To think I'd finally moved on, it only took me a couple years._

_Not long after I got home, I saw that Jack had actually sent me a message asking if I wanted to go see a movie with him or do something like that. There isn't really a movie I wanted to see…but I told him that we should go swimming since I'm sure he'd be a sexy beast in a swimsuit. Like, seriously. He would be. So that's what we're doing on Friday…we're going to the waterpark and going to go on all the slides._

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The two men met at the entrance to the waterpark, both holding towels and already wearing their swim trunks. They had both arrived half an hour early in order to get in the front of the line, Fantome had done so on accident but he didn't know if Jack had planned on coming early or not. Fantome smiled inwardly when he saw that Jack's trunks were patterned in the fashion of the Australian flag. That was cute. Fantome's own trunks were purely black; he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. He had liberally applied sunscreen to his skin, he knew he burnt easily and every time he spent too long in the sun he would come home and watch as his skin all peeled off. While he knew he was only delaying the inevitable burn, he wanted to go through as much of the day as possible without a burn.

After setting their towels down, Fantome had directed Jack to his favorite slide. The big white slide that required inner tubes to ride. He loved it. They called it the lazy river slide because in order to get to the slide, one had to go through what felt like a gauntlet of slow waters and little waterfalls with their tube before finding the desired slide. Fantome loved pushing his way through the water all the way to the slide. It was incredibly entertaining to him also to watch Jack flail as his tube floated back and forth in the middle. Fantome laughed at the other, as his own tube went down one of the small waterfalls and went down to the next level. Once the both of them had made their way down with their tubes intact, they looked at the lifeguard expectantly, before she asked each one,

"Forward or backward?" While Fantome had chosen to go forward, since he didn't want to have all the fun too early in the morning, Jack had decided to go backwards and they both met at the bottom. Fantome groaned, watching as his hair fell out of the ponytail he had. After fruitlessly trying to keep his hair back, Fantome settled to just letting his messy brown hair frame his face for the rest of the day, resisting the urge to run his fingers through it every few minutes to detangle it. It was times like this that he envied people like Jack who had short hair, which he could just slick back and call good.

After the white slide, Jack had decided to take charge and led Fantome to the tallest slide at the park. The 70 foot drop slide, the one that always gave him a slight wedgie but was always worth it. Fantome squirmed a bit at the top of the slide; looking down nervously and watching the Australian drop down excitedly. Fantome followed shortly after, trying to push away all is fears as he slid down, only to have a panic attack near the middle of the slide and begin to flail his way down. His eyes grew wide as saucers as he came to a stop at the end and he stood up on wobbly legs, holding onto the Australian for support. The Aussie laughed, patting his Canadian friend on the head as he helped him back to the more gentle slides. Fantome pouted the entire way back, telling the other that he never wanted to go on a slide like that ever again. Jack only laughed, sitting the boy down on a bench and telling him to wait there as he went on the smaller of the drop slides.

"I'll be right back, mate! You catch your breath and I'll go on the small slide, kay?" Fantome looked at him, his dark green eyes widening as they met with the other's sparkling green orbs.

"Promise?" Jack laughed, ruffling the other's hair and nodding,

"Promise!"

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_Do I like Jack? More than I liked Feil? Do I? I don't know. My heart always deceives me. It gives me weird signs and I never know how to interpret them. Does he like me back? I don't know! I never will unless I tell him, will I? But if I tell him I like him, will he still like me? Or will he run away and never return? I don't want that, I want to spend time with him again. I'm so confused! Heart, why do you make life so difficult for me all the time? Why? I just want to spend time with Jack and not have all these complicated feelings getting in my way!_

_We may have just met but he wants to do more…maybe that means he likes me more than as friends? I sure hope it means that, because I really like him. More than as friends. I want to have cuddles with him. That's all I look for in a relationship, I'm only really in it for the cuddles. Cuddling is a great action. It's warm and nice. I don't care about kisses or intimate touches at the moment, all I want is cuddles. Is that so much to ask for? Heart, why must you be so complicated when all I want is cuddles? I hate you sometimes._

* * *

I'm so sorry.

I haven't updated in forever. So much has happened lately. Finishing my Extended Essay, reading Gatsby, researching for my Internal Assessment, panicking because Mr. O lost my draft of my EE, visiting in state colleges, being flipped off by angry Washington drivers…too much has happened. Too much. It overwhelmed my face off and it made it incredibly difficult to update. Next week will also be difficult because my mom's college friend + college friend's significant other are visiting and we're doing all sorts of things next week, like visiting National Parks and going on boats. Ah! Too much! WAY TOO MUCH TO HANDLE!

And if you hadn't noticed, but I'm sure you did because you're all smart cookies, the italics is diary entries. (: That's why it's in italics and in first person. Just thought I'd clear that up if it wasn't incredibly clear.

Waterpark part was inspired off of the local waterpark we have near my hometown and the entire trip was pretty much fashioned from my trip last Tuesday. My parents told me it would take half an hour to get there…it did not. It took me fifteen minutes, so I had to wait in line for half an hour before they opened because of that. It was hot and I did not want to wait. Waiting is not a fun time. All the stuff that happened to Fantome and Aussie happened to my friends and I. We had an interesting time. A hornet pretty much raped our sandwich, I scraped my knee in the kiddy pool, and Pokémon was talked about all day long.

Also, I was wondering if someone would Beta for me. If you're interested, I'd appreciate PMs. (: I always make silly little mistakes and my perfectionism makes me want to fix and reupload chapters and do silly things like that. It's not a good feeling. So…having a Beta would alleviate some of these problems. I also want someone to read the chapters before I upload them to make sure there's enough buff and not too much fluff. I need content! I'm writing a RoChu story next, so if someone wanted to Beta for that instead of for this story, that would be chill, too :p

Oh, and before I forget, the next chapter will be a Canada POV chapter, as in another letter to a brother type thing. In case you're curious about that. He needs some more love, I've been forgetting about him lately and that's not a good thing. Matthew is wonderful, I like his little maple coated ass. I also love that my Word recognizes ass as a word. It's so nice.

I'm also looking for songs that are Fantome-like for later chapters…I think he's going to express his inner angst through song…via karaoke. Because we all like karaoke. But I'm not entirely sure if this idea will come into fruition, regardless you all should give suggestions in the comments! :D So far, I have the song My Heart is Refusing Me by Loreen as his, like, theme song.

**Inaccuracies in translations? Please, feel free to tell me, because I don't know anything. I'm a hopeless American living in White Ass Montana using Google Translate and hoping I choose the right words…which I hope my Asian intuition doesn't fail me, it's usually pretty good at picking words.**

Questions? Leave me a comment and I'll answer for you! Subscribe or favorite if you enjoyed? I'd appreciate it. c:

Lots of love and besos,

~Master Boss~


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